Certain cooktop appliances include gas burners for heating cooking utensils on the cooktop appliances. Gas burners that fire inwards, typically with a swirling flame pattern, offer better efficiency than traditional outward firing gas burners. However, known inward firing gas burners have various drawbacks.
One problem with known inward firing gas burners is that a center of the inward firing gas burners is open. A portion of the top panel below the open center is perforated to allow components of the inward firing gas burners to pass through the top panel, but spills can also pass through the perforated top panel. Such spills can be difficult to clean. Other known inward firing gas burners have components, such as surfaces, passages and channels, at a center of the inward firing gas burner. Spills frequently collect on such components and are difficult to clean. The spills can also stain the components, particularly when the components are formed of porous cast metal, and stains are unsightly. Directing secondary combustion air through the inward firing gas burners can also be difficult.
Accordingly, a cooktop appliance with features for limiting spills from passing through a top panel of the cooktop appliance would be useful. In addition, a cooktop appliance with features for limiting spills from passing through a top panel of the cooktop appliance that also includes features for supplying secondary combustion air to a gas burner assembly would be useful.
Another problem with known inward firing gas burners is inherent pooling of gaseous fuel within the gas burners when the gaseous fuel is allowed to flow out without immediate ignition, i.e., a delayed ignition scenario. Delayed ignition scenarios can result in an ignition “pop” noise as the accumulated excess gaseous fuel rapidly burns once ignited. This most frequently occurs when the gaseous fuel is heavier than air, e.g., propane. The heavy gaseous fuel tends to sink and collect within the gas burner rather than floating away, and the annular wall of the inward firing gas burners helps collect the gaseous fuel rather than dissipate it.
Accordingly, a cooktop appliance with features for limiting pooling of gaseous fuel within a gas burner would be useful. In particular, a cooktop appliance with features for limiting pooling of gaseous fuel within an inward firing gas burner in order to reduce the audible magnitude of the ignition “pop” in delayed ignition scenarios would be useful.